Surah 5 (Al-Maidah) 109-120 - Jesus and Allah

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Jun 29 05 7:22 PM

This section mainly consists of a short interview between Allah and the prophets - especially Jesus - on Judgment Day, in the middle of which is an anecdote in which the disciples of Jesus ask for a dinner-table to be sent down from heaven. The main didactic point of this section seems to be that the prophets should not be worshipped.

In v. 109, at first glance it looks as if the prophets do not know how people responded to their message. This is question-raising, since many prophets lived long enough to see their messages accepted or rejected. This may be an example of conversational etiquette: a teacher about to begin a lesson might ask his student, "Do you know about [subject X]?" and the good student - even if he did know a thing or two about the subject - would say, "I dont know about it," or "Im sure you know much more," and the lesson would get underway.

Verse 110 lists various miracles of Jesus, repeating the gist of material in 3:45-49. This is an instructive verse for those attempting to discern the sources from which Muhammad gathered impressions about Jesus life and ministry. Here is a list of some things are said to have occurred in v. 110:

(1) Allah supported Jesus with "Ruh-ul-Qudus" literally, "Holy Spirit." Muslims tend to interpret this as a reference to the angel Gabriel. The Gospels refer to the Holy Spirit on numerous occasions; the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (part XV) also mentions that Jesus "spoke by the Holy Spirit, and taught the law to those who stood by."

(2) Jesus spoke to people while in the cradle. Details of this event are supplied in 19:29-33. At wesley.nnu.edu/noncanon/gospels/infarab.htm one may read the Arabic Infancy Gospel, which states in its opening paragraph that baby Jesus spoke to Mary "when He was lying in His cradle." The Arabic Infancy Gospel depicts baby Jesus saying that He is the "Son of God, the Logos." The words attributed to Jesus in the Quran are quite different, in sync with Muhammads view that Jesus was not the Son of God.

(3) Allah taught Jesus writing. In the Arabic Infancy Gospel, part 48 (and in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, at www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancythomas-a-mrjames.html part VI), theres an anecdote in which Jesus, as a boy, is taken to school, and his teacher is amazed to find that He already knows the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

(4) Jesus made the likeness of a bird in clay, and breathed into it, and it became a bird. In the Arabic Infancy Gospel, in part 36, theres an anecdote in which Jesus, at age seven, "had made figures of birds and sparrows, which flew when He told them to fly." The same anecdote, slightly altered, is re-told in part 46 (which is a partial revision of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which says that Jesus was five).

(5) Jesus healed those born blind. (Translations differ here: Rodwell and Shakir mention the healing of the blind; Pickthall mentions him who was born blind, and Yusuf Ali and Hilali-Khan mention those born blind.) In the Gospels, only a single healing of a man born blind is explicitly recorded, in John 9 where Jesus put clay upon the mans eyes as part of the healing. In a commentary on the Diatessaron written by Ephraem the Syrian, the text (at the part of the narrative drawn from John 9:6) is vividly rendered, He made eyes from the clay which thus creates a point of similarity with the miracle of the sparrows (i.e., a person using a Syriac Diatessaron might categorize both acts as miracles which involved making things out of clay).

(6) Jesus healed lepers. There are accounts of this in the canonical Gospels, and there are also a couple of leper-healings described in the Arabic Infancy Gospel, parts 17-18.

(7) Jesus raised the dead. Three resurrections performed by Jesus were described in some detail by the authors of the Gospels: the resurrection of the widows son at Nain, the resurrection of Jairus daughter, and the resurrection of Lazarus. Some other resurrections are described in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, in parts IX, XVII, and XVIII.

(8) Allah restrained the Jews from Jesus. Though some Muslims may interpret this to mean that the Jews did not crucify Jesus, it is at least as likely that the text here alludes to the scenario in John 10:39 or Luke 4:28-29.

(9) Disbelievers, seeing what Jesus did, said, "This is nothing but plain sorcery," a statement which is similar to John 10:20, but it is even more similar to the statement in the Arabic Infancy Gospel, part 36, where some said about Jesus, "He is a sorcerer."

Out of nine acts described in this verse, seven have parallels in either the Arabic Infancy Gospel or the Infancy Gospel of Thomas or both. Of those seven, three (speaking-as-infant, flying-bird-sculptures, writing-education) are unconnected to canonical material but practically echo the infancy-gospels.

Verse 111 abbreviates 3:52. The term "Al-Hawariyyun" is used here to refer to the disciples of Jesus.

Verses 112-115 comprise an extraordinary passage. The apostles of Jesus (again named as "Al-Hawariyyun") ask Him, "Can your Lord send down to us a table spread from heaven?" Jesus replies that they should fear Allah. (I get the impression that this is meant as a mild rebuke.) The apostles reply, in v. 113, to the effect that they do not ask this as a sign on the basis of which to have faith, but only as a sign to confirm their faith. Jesus responds by asking Allah to send down the table. Allah then says, I am going to send it down unto you, (notice that here Allah says "I," not "We") but Allah sternly warns that if any of the apostles then disbelieves, "I will punish him with a torment such as I have not inflicted on anyone among all the worlds." Thats all; the next verse returns to the scene on Judgment Day.

Although there is no /exact/ parallel between this event in the Quran and events in the ministry of Jesus as described in the Gospels, there are several /inexact/ parallels. This passage could be based on a misunderstanding of an allegorical Christian sermon on part of Psalm 78 (notice the similarity between Psalm 78:19 "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?" and the apostles question in v. 112). But such hypotheses are tenuous at best. Even so, it seems worthwhile to note the distinct possibility that Muhammad thought that Christian communion (the Lords Supper) was a commemoration, not of the crucifixion, but of the miracle of the feeding of a multitude of Jesus followers. This passage would be in sync with such a view. (Btw, all resemblance between the scene in this passage, and the vision of Peter in Acts 10:10-16 is, imho, entirely superficial.)

In v. 116, the text again describes a scene at Judgment Day. This verse demonstrates fairly clearly that Muhammad perceived the Trinity as a union of Father (Allah), Mother (Mary), and Son (Jesus). Having grown up in Mecca, Muhammad had seen people refer to some deities as the daughters of Allah. He came to regard such a thing as repugnant, inasmuch as it implied that Allah had produced offspring by copulating with a consort. When Muhammad encountered Christianity (in whatever form) and its reference to Jesus as the Son of God, he probably rejected that doctrine instinctively and adamantly for the same reason that he had previously rejected the idea that Allah has daughters.

One doctrinal point of the first part of v. 116 is true: Jesus never taught people to worship Jesus and Mary as two gods besides Allah. But alongside that observation one should note that true Christians have never taught that Jesus and Mary are two gods besides Allah. Verse 116 opposes a non-Christian, anti-Biblical teaching. It does not countenance the doctrine that the Father, the Word, and the Spirit are one co-eternal God.

In v. 117 Jesus describes Allahs superior knowledge. The first sentence here practically quotes John 12:49 (I have not spoken on My own authority, but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak see also John 14:10). Jesus statement in the middle of the verse (I was a witness over them while I dwelt amongst them) resembles John 17:12a. Although the exact degree to which Jesus divinity will be displayed when He returns is unknown, and what level of knowledge He will possess, there is nothing here which necessarily contradicts Christian doctrine: the Father commissions the Son (never vice versa), and the Father knows some things that the Son does not know (as in Mark 11:13 and 13:32).

Verse 118 is interesting because it seems to depict Jesus, on Judgment Day itself, still not knowing what Allah will do with the Christians - He might punish them, or He might forgive them. This verse echoes the middle of 5:40 somewhat -- but here the statement is put in Jesus mouth. A similar lack of knowledge regarding Christians' collective fate - or /indecision/ about how to regard them - sometimes seems to be displayed in the Quran also.

Verse 119 promises Paradise to truth-tellers. Then verse 120 repeats phrases from the beginning and end of 5:40.